Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube

Disney Workers Win Battle for Increased Starting Wage

After months of struggle, 10,000 Disney workers in California won a $15 an hour starting wage and improved working conditions.

Left Voice

August 10, 2018
Facebook Twitter Share

Image credits: Monivette Cordeiro

U.S. workers’ struggle to raise the minimum wage to $15 reached Disney’s “Magic Kingdom” in California. According to the Los Angeles Times, unions representing almost 10,000 workers at Disney theme parks approved a new contract on July 26 that will raise the current starting hourly wage of $11 to $15 by 2019. This surpassed the state of California’s plan to raise the official minimum wage to $15 only in 2020. The Disney workers’ three-year contract raises wages for a third of Disney’s 30,000 theme park workers, including workers at California Adventure Park, Disney’s Anaheim hotels and the commercial district. It also includes a retroactive raise of 3% (or 50 cents an hour, whichever is greater).

Fast food workers were the first to fight for $15 an hour, but the demand has long since reached other sectors. Today, U.S. workers whose jobs are precarious or who have gone years without a raise are in a new mood, thanks to the recent news that the U.S. economy is growing—one of the few bits of good news in the Trump era. It therefore seems like as good a time as any to fight for better wages. Such was the case last spring with the teachers’ strikes in several states and, more recently, with the hospital workers’ struggle in Burlington, Vermont.

You may be interested in The Price of Wonderland: Homeless Disney Worker Dies in Car

In contrast to many of the union contracts signed in recent years that were unfavorable to workers, this contract succeeded in requiring Disney to provide specific explanations when it wants to dismiss or suspend a worker. The contract also increases the minimum time between shifts from 9 to 10 hours, requires Disney to give workers more flexibility to take vacations and makes it easier for part-time workers to obtain full-time positions.

After the Disney workers’ victory, the official #FightFor15 account tweeted:

“Starting in January, 9,700 more workers at Disneyland will make at least $15/ hr, AND many will get a 20% raise IMMEDIATELY. To win big, we can’t just rely on minimum wage increases, we need to build strong unions and win good contracts.”

According to the Los Angeles Times, union members said Disney had offered to increase the minimum wage several months ago in exchange for cuts in workers’ benefits and a clause to avoid future conflicts. This workers rejected this proposal and continued the fight until they won. Disney may soon face a new conflict if in November, voters approve a new law to force large companies that receive municipal subsidies to increase their minimum wage to $18 by 2022.

The new fight for better wages is an important shift for U.S. workers whose salaries have been frozen for the last decade. The new signs of struggle have already unsettled hotel companies and Disney’s shareholders, who spoke out against the new contract. Disney and other Anaheim employers have already announced the formation of a coalition to defeat the November ballot initiative.

The fight will thus likely intensify. For the moment, however, the workers in the Magic Kingdom of precarization have won their first important battle.

Facebook Twitter Share

Left Voice

Militant journalism, revolutionary politics.

Labor Movement

“Our Big Push Was for Union Democracy and a Plan to Win”: An Interview with the Amazon Labour Union Democratic Reform Caucus

Two years after the historic victory at JFK8, Amazon workers voted in a referendum in their union. They want to hold new elections and revise the constitution, as part of a struggle to make ALU more democratic and militant. Left Voice spoke with two organizers to discuss the struggle in ALU.

Luigi Morris

March 20, 2024
A banner reads "Real Wages Or We Strike" at a rally for CUNY, which is experiencing cuts from Mayor Eric Adams and Governor Kathy Hochul.

CUNY Faculty and Staff Have Gone One Year Without a Contract — It’s Time to Strike

CUNY workers have been without a new contract for a full year and the university has yet to make any economic offers. It's time to take action.

Olivia Wood

February 29, 2024
Florida governor Ron DeSantis stands at a podium that reds "Higher Education Reform"

U.S. Higher Education Is Being Gutted, but We Can Fight Back

Across the United States, higher education is being gutted through program eliminations and budget cuts. We must prepare to fight these attacks with everything we have.

Olivia Wood

February 28, 2024
CUNY workers at a demonstration hold a banner that reads "STRIKE TO SAVE CUNY."

CUNY Workers Launch New Strike Campaign

As Governor Hochul proposes another $528 million in cuts, workers at the City University of New York are fighting back.

Olivia Wood

February 12, 2024

MOST RECENT

A square in Argentina is full of protesters holding red banners

48 Years After the Military Coup, Tens of Thousands in Argentina Take to the Streets Against Denialism and the Far Right

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets across Argentina on March 24 to demand justice for the victims of the state and the military dictatorship of 1976. This year, the annual march had renewed significance, defying the far-right government’s denialism and attacks against the working class and poor.

Madeleine Freeman

March 25, 2024

The Convulsive Interregnum of the International Situation

The capitalist world is in a "permacrisis" — a prolonged period of instability which may lead to catastrophic events. The ongoing struggles for hegemony could lead to open military conflicts.

Claudia Cinatti

March 22, 2024

Berlin’s Mayor Loves Antisemites

Kai Wegner denounces the “antisemitism” of left-wing Jews — while he embraces the most high-profile antisemitic conspiracy theorist in the world.

Nathaniel Flakin

March 22, 2024

What “The Daily” Gets Right and Wrong about Oregon’s Move to Recriminalize Drugs

A doctor at an overdose-prevention center responds to The Daily, a podcast produced by the New York Times, on the recriminalization of drugs in Oregon. What are the true causes of the addiction crisis, and how can we solve it?

Mike Pappas

March 22, 2024